Why a Park and Ride is not good for Staten Island's North Shore.
Posted: Tuesday, April 11, 2006
by thomas brice
As some of you may have heard, there has been a lot of talk about what will become of the open property of where the Vanderbilt-Schmidt house stands. The community board has approved a family style restaurant only. While there had been quite a lot of talk about Duane Reade coming in and taking over the property, but it looks like there is enough outcry to overtake this not to mention the amount of Duane Reade's already in the area.
If you live on the Intersection of Clove Rd and Victory Bl where the property lies you would know traffic from turning to Victory Bl, and turning on Clove Rd is a lot at all times of the day. With the buses going along both streets traffic is constant. Not to mention many cars making left hand turns as well. This intersection is dangerous for many pedestrians, my brother in fact several months ago was hit by a car while crossing the street to catch the bus to his school. Not to mention just recently a lady with a cell phone in hand crashing into a telephone poll stopping traffic for hours,and the power. With exits to the Staten Island Expressway,and Verrzanno Bridge within minutes, a park and ride maybe an idea of some sorts.
The problem is however with the building of a senior assitance community before the exit on Clove Rd, traffic is only getting worse, and my question is how can a park and ride decrease traffic when if anything it will give more people reason to use their cars, the buses going to the Staten Island Ferry, and Brooklyn will pick up passengers on this site, and the many people who work in the area will park there. Rush hour sometimes starts here as early as 4pm! A park and ride will do more damage, it will cause more accidents, slower traffic the light for cars making left hand turns onto victory bl is a major source of the traffic issues, and many buses will block cars from turning onto those roads.
A soultion would be easy to say, but what I think we should do with the property is either build something to go hand in hand with the Crown Jewel of Staten Island Clove Lakes Park a library has something many locals have complained about having for years, and with the recent buildings of several Island libraries the time is there for the outcry. This will encourage many Islanders to take their children to the park with a book in hand, helps them read, it will give many youths here a place to go considering many when the weather is colder are hanging around storefronts causing havoc this now will give em somewhere to enjoy themselves, and make friends. I also believe we should look into the idea of having a private bus line run from the Staten Island Ferry along Victory Bl, many of the MTA buses are already packed already,and many times have to skip stops. This would generate revenue for the Island, and help our environment considering the quality of air is very poor with the amount of pollution in the air already.
Bringing back the subway line along Richmond Terrace is also another great idea, many Islanders on the North Shore would rely and use it heavily. Bus service along Richmond Terrace is terrible,and the bus going to Brooklyn's passengers would be reduced heavily thanks to a subway line going across the North Shore. Granted there should be something built on the property, it has set idle for many years, it is constantly vandalized, but however building something that benefits the community in a short run or not even as a whole such as a Park and Ride is not the way to go. This is a great chance to build something Staten Island's youth, seniors, and all walks of life can use, and at the same time consider investing an options right with our very own eyes, you be the judge? Park and Ride or a Public Library, and investing in remodeling the Vanderbilt-Schmidtt house and giving tours in it, and keeping our great history alive and well.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)build the subway to staten island....groundbreaking took place in 1923...why it was stopped is unknown...the shafts in brooklyn are still there at owls head park
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